Page 12 of The Heat of Us

I could say I didn’t watch the numbers light up as the lift descended but that would be a lie. Hazel made her way over to my desk and it would also be a lie to say I did not notice that she was freshly showered and smelled nothing like Remington Fucking Blake.

Her eyes went straight to the bulky package.

“You’re a lying liar.”

I shrugged. It was true.

She frowned slightly and picked at the edge of the thick wrappings.

“You could open it here and I’ll dispose of the extra packaging for you?” I offered.

We worked together to cut through the duct tape and layers of bubble wrap to reveal…

“Is that a dartboard?”

Hazel looked incredibly pleased. “Oh my god, it’s perfect.” She stepped back and admired it. “Juno’s going to love this once I put that asshole’s face on here.”

What? I pressed my fingers to my temple. “I don’t think I want to know.”

She didn’t scoff or roll her eyes at me like I expected. Instead she regarded me with a serious look. “Aleks. What do you think about bond dissolution?”

Bond dissolution?

It had certainly been in the news a lot lately. The National Omega Commision had recently announced they were offering bond dissolution to the general public after years of successful clinical trials. Many unhappy couples and packs had raced to sign up. It was a relief to those who had lived separately for years or bonded young to incompatible scent matches while caught up in a pheromone haze.

But I was pretty sure Hazel wasn’t asking me about that particular brand of bond dissolution.

She was asking me about one-way bond dissolution. The controversial one. Lifetime omega/alpha bonds capable of being broken for the first time with only one party needing to consent.

Bonding an omega only took when they were high off happy hormones with their alpha.

Or when they were out of their mind with need during their heats.

The people seeking one-way bond dissolution were overwhelmingly omegas who had been subdued and bitten when vulnerable.

It was an issue that sat on my periphery. It wasn’t like I had time for a relationship. As a beta, I wasn’t the natural choice for pack life. And beta bonds, whether they were with an alpha or an omega, weren’t that common and they faded after a while anyway.

But no one should be trapped with someone they couldn’t stand.

“I think it’s long overdue, really,” I said finally.

“Good,” she approved.

Hazel and her gigantic dartboard disappeared into the elevator.

I watched the numbers rise.

I trudged through my front door several hours later. My hackles went up instantly when I saw the cold blue flicker of the TV screen from the darkened living room. I let my bag fall from my shoulder and rushed over, hoping I wouldn’t find my grandma sitting exactly where I’d left her.

Fuck.

Did he not even have the decency to turn on the light so she wouldn’t be in the dark?

“Babulya,” I said gently, crouching down next to her. “Have you been watching long?” I tried my best to keep my voice light so I wouldn’t alarm her.

“Alyosha.” Her blue veins were stark beneath her paper-thin skin as she laid her hand on top of mine. “How was work?”

When was the last time she ate? Drank?

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